George was born on June 24, 1819 in New London. He was the son of Henry Harris and Lucy Comstock Harris, about neither of whom was any information found. George married Catherine (no last name known) on May 10, 1851. She was born in New London in about 1816, based on information in census reports. They had one child, Lizzie, born in 1858, died on December 17,1878. Census reports for Brooklyn NY for 1860 and 1865 show George’s occupation as “fish dealer” and “fish mer[chant?]”. However, the New London City Directory for 1865 records two entries for 15 Truman St.: “Harris, Capt. George, h” (presumably home), the other “Harris, Geo. C. bds” (boards). George and Catherine both died in Brooklyn, George on December 14, 1869, Catherine on January 6, 1891. Both are buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery in New London. His gravestone, describing him as “Capt.”, lists his dates and places of birth and death as shown above. Catherine‘s gravestone, describing her as wife of George C. Harris,shows her dying in Brooklyn on January 6, 1891at age 68.
George served as master for four voyages on four ships with New London as home port:
JASON (AS1690): (ship, 335 tons, length 98 ft., built in Kittery ME in 1810). JASON sailed on August 5, 1842 for the So. Atlantic and returned on May 31, 1844. Dennis Wood Abstract 1-280. Frink, Chew & Co. was the agent. AV07406.
JEFFERSON (AS1695): (ship, 396 tons, 107 ft., built in Baltimore MD in 1826, lost in the Sea of Okhotsk off Sakhalin Island (Russia)). JEFFERSON sailed on August 15, 1844 for the Indian and NW oceans and returned on May 24, 1847, Wood Abstract 2-376. Wm P. Benjamin was the agent. AV07501.
GENERAL SCOTT (AS0263): (bark, 361 tons, length 113 ft., built in Kennebunk ME in 1838, sold in Boston in 1862). SCOTT sailed on July 5, 1848 for the Indian and NW oceans and returned on March 22, 1851. Wood Abstract 2-582. Weaver & Rogers was the agent. AV05520.
VENICE (AS2553): (bark, 354 tons, length 108 ft., built in Kennebunk in 1834, withdrawn in 1859 and sold in Calcutta in 1863). VENICE sailed on August 12, 1851 for the Indian and N. Pacific oceans and returned on June 9, 1854. Wood Abstract 2-656. Weaver, Rogers & Co. was the agent. AV15110.
New London Crew Lists records “George C. Harris” and “George Harris” serving as a member of the crew for voyages on multiple New London home-ported ships. The four ships described above are the only ones appearing with George C. or George as master. There are several ships with either George a member of the crew, but the dates of some of those voyages conflict with the dates of the voyages for which George was the master. In addition, the age of crew members at the date of sailing is in some cases not consistent with George’s birth in 1819. Crew lists are sometimes unreliable sources of information. The author does not have sufficient confidence in the information in the crew lists to declare George a crew member for any specific voyage.
The author is troubled by what appears as conflicting information. (1) The census reports place George and Catherine living in Brooklyn in 1860 and 1865 and later dying there while the city directory shows George apparently residing in New London in 1865. On the other hand, both George and Catherine, while living and dying in Brooklyn, chose to be buried in New London. (2) New London Crew Lists place a George C. Harris or George Harris as crew member on voyages the dates of which conflict with dates of the voyages on which George was serving as master. These inconsistencies raise in the mind of the author the possibility of there being two seamen named George C. Harris sailing in the period described above.
Sources used: see sidebar and sources cited in text.
George Shaw
American Institute for Maritime Studies
Mystic Seaport Museum
January 2026